An advertising model for our product would allow users to browse for loyalty points seamlessly. Brands could target those most interested in their products and maximize engagement with sophisticated data. Users could find products they’d most want, and brands could find the customers they most want. Users wouldn’t need to pay for our app, or be charged high point trade taxes, as advertising would foot the bill.
The disadvantages are plentiful. We would have to collect detailed user data about spending habits and then sell that data to companies. Companies could exploit user habits, and we’d essentially create a tricky ethical tradeoff for ourselves: more profits or more privacy?
Furthermore, users would feel as thought they were always being “sold to”. I can’t tell you how many friends have complained how Instagram has been ruined by the sheer volume of advertising content. The new user experience takes away from the company’s vision about connecting people (or so the Zuck claims…).
As for the internet overall, the aforementioned tradeoff between privacy and profits takes center stage. Do we want an internet completely free of surveillance, or one where companies can use user data to drive growth and possibly innovation – hopefully in the form of better stuff on the internet? I’d imagine the answer lies somewhere in the middle.
